Classics

[qos]

Which "classics" have you read that actually made a strong impression on you, and/or had a significant influence on you? Which do you keep in your library because you truly want to have them at your fingertips to read -- or at least dip into -- again and again?


ETA: Lists are great, folks -- but what I'm really interested in is why and/or how these books touched you in such an important way.

Comments

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Jane Eyre. I like the story of Jane and Mr. Rochester and how they ended up together, against all odds. It appealed to my desire to be rescued from an unloving, cold, lonely world by the validating love of another, powerful person.

[druidharper.livejournal.com]

Define 'classics'?

When you say Classics the authors that pop into my head immediately are people like Vegetius, Tacitus, Agricola, Thucydides, Caesar, Homer and similar folk. Okay, I admit, I'm weird that way. O-o

[oakmouse]

This is going to require a post of its own. And, ironically, I've been contemplating such a post, having just finished The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire. I'll try to put that together today.

[athenian-abroad.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm...off the top of my head:

Autobiography of John Stuart Mill
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin*
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

And parts of....

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides



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* A newcomer to the list, but a keeper, I think. Time will tell.

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

My classics may be a little off the track from what you have in mind, but...

The Iliad and The Odyssey, by Homer. A good lesson in the price of hubris and the power of cleverness over brawn (even if Odysseus is more like a used-car salesman than a hero).

Principia Mathematica, by Isaac Newton. It proves that a human mind can encompass and describe the foundations of the world.

Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin. It humanized a larger-than-life figure, and showed that even great geniuses may be both warm and flawed. He didn't even ever finish writing the book!

Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman. My introduction to modern verse, and some of te most frankly sensual poetry in two centuries. A poetry class in a book.

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Drove home that law and justice and right are not the same.

A World Between, by Norman Spinrad. The destructive power of extremism and narrowness of vision.
(Reply to this)

[purplevenus.livejournal.com]

Wuthering Heights I loved Heathcliff the moment he arrived. She should have married him. I just adored that he was this outcast, brought into society...very much like the Beast.
The Story of O (Obvious)
Lady Chatterley's Lover The first book I ever read wherein the heroine enjoyed sex.
Song of Solomon (The Biblical book, not the Morrison)Just beautiful and touching
Alice in Wonderland I don't know why, exactly. I have read it every year since I was 7.
The Awakening Kate Chopin What an odd story. First book I ever read where someone who "had it all" wanted something different.
Beauty and the Beast, I read every version of this I can get my hands on. I just adore the beast, and watching beauty fall in love with him, well, rather realizing she loves him after all.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

Ulysses by James Joyce - Simply a facinating read.

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany - One of the most interesting science fiction books I have ever read. The main character is possibly schizophrenic, but you don't know. The book also deals with poly relationships and bisexuality. In addition, it breaks some literary conventions about plot structure and even the definition of a novel. It is the literary equivalent of a M.C. Escher print. Hands down the most difficult book I have ever read.

Gravity's Rainbow - One of the best novels ever written, also has a reputation as being difficult, but it is this very quality that makes it worth while.
"Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death."

The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck (Along with the other two in the trilogy) Nobel prizewinner and one of the books I read in highschool that stayed with me the strongest.

1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm - I like dystopian political fiction, these books are important to our culture and many of the stories that have been told since.

This is all that I can think of tonight.